Railway-joint



INVENTOR H15 ATTORNEY.

Patented July'lQ, 1892.

F. W. BOND.

RAILWAY JOINT.

. g \s a g A m%% M (No Model.)

YUNITED STATES PATENT GFFICE.

FREDERICK W. BOND, OF SPRINGFIELD, MISSOURI.

RAILWAY-JOINT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 478,983, dated July 19,1892.

Application filed November 30, 1889. Serial No. 332,124. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, FREDERICK W. BOND, a citizen of the UnitedStates,residing at Springfield, in the county of Greene and State ofMissouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inRailway-Joints; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full,clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enableothers skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use thesame.

This invention relates to railways, and particularly to rail-joints.

In railway-chairs as heretofore ordinarily constructed great danger,expense, and inconvenience have been caused by the sagging of the railsat their ends by the passage of wheels of locomotives and cars overthem. It has frequently been attempted to remedy this by adopting aheavier rail and also by the use of new and cumbersome forms ofrailfastenin gs, the employment of which in nearly every case involvingthe abandonment of the fish-plates and angle-bars now in general use formaintaining the proper position of rails in relation to each other whenjoined, and which incur so great an expense as to render their useunprofitable.

The object of the present invention is to provide a simple, durable, andinexpensive bridge-plate or railway-chair which can be applied to railsof ordinary construction and secured in place by the ordinary spikes nowin use for fixing the rails to the ties, and which will effectuallyprevent any sagging or depression of the ends of the rails in use.

With these objects in view the invention resides, essentially, in arail-joint bridge consisting of a plate having ends adapted to rest uponthe ties and having on its under side a curved strengthening rib whoseends are adapted to bear against the said ties, the said rib having itssides curved inward toward its center, whereby the rib at its center islargest in vertical section and smallest in transverse section,substantially as described.

I have illustrated the invention in the accompanying drawings, in whichlike letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all thefigures, and in which Figure lrepresentsaside view of arailwayjointhaving my improved bridge-plate or chair attached thereto. Fig. 4 is asection on the line 00 0c of Fig. 1. Fig. 2 is an enlarged side view ofmy bridge-plate or chair, and Fig. 3 is an inverted plan view of thebridgeplate.

In the drawings, A represents the bridgeplate, which is preferably of alength to extend between and have its ends rest upon adjacent ties. Theupper face of the plate is flat in order to present an evenbearing-surface for the ends of the rails which are designed to restthereon. The bridge-plate has formed with it or attached to it in asuitable manner an enlarged or swelling portion a forming a longitudinalstrengthening-rib, the purpose of which is to materially thicken theplate and serve to strengthen it to support the weight of the loadimposed upon the rails at their meeting-points. The width of the plate Acorresponds to the width of the bedplate of the ordinary T-rail, and thestrengthening-rib (t is preferably of such length that the ends thereofbear against the faces of contiguous ties in order that when thebridgeplate is arranged in proper position between the tops of the tiesand the rails longitudinal movement of the plates is prevented. The

sides of the web a are curved inward toward the center, at which pointthe web is largest in vertical section and smallest in transversesection. By this construction the web is rendered resilient and is alsomade strongest at the point Where the greatest strain iscentered-namely, beneath the meeting-points of the rails. No fasteningsother than those ordinarily employed in the construction of railways arerequired for holding my bridgeplate in place.

When the plate is to be applied to tracks already constructed, it isonly necessary to withdraw the spikes which hold the rails to the ties,raise the rails slightly, insert the bridge-plate between the ties andthe rails, and replace the spikes. The plate will be held in positionlaterally by the spikes, and the enlargement a will, as abovedescribed,prevent movement in the direction of the rails.

B and 0 represent, respectively, an ordinary angle-bar and fish-plate,forming no part of this invention and being shown merely to illustratethe manner in which my invention may be applied Without interfering withthe curved inward toward its center, whereby the ordinary manner ofconnecting the ends of rib at its center is largest 111 vertical sectionthe rails. and smallest in transverse section, substan- Having thusfully described my invention, tially as described. 5 5 What Iclaim asnew, and desire to secure by In testimony whereof Iaffix my signature inLetters Patent, ispresence of two witnesses.

A rail-joint bridge consisting of a plate hav- FREDERICK BOND ing endsadapted to rest upon the ties and having on its under side acnrvedstrengt-hen- Witnesses:

Io ing-rib whose ends are adapted to bear against B. E. FREDERICKS,

the said ties, the said rib having its sides! HENRY K. SMITH.

